64x Vista firewalls..?

[Everlong]

Vista's firewall with a 64 bit version of Vista is a decently secure machine. Add a good AV program like NOD32, you're pretty well locked down.

Windows Firewall is only capable of blocking inbound traffic though. Outbound is free to do what it wants, which isn't all that secure.

 

[joel406]

Everlong18 the Vista firewall filters outbound as well as inbound. Its only real draw back is advanced configuration of the Vista firewall is for...well...advanced users.

 

[Everlong]

Ah never knew that. Thought it was just similar to Windows XP firewall, but still recommended to use a third party firewall

 

[dmex]

Everlong18 the Vista firewall filters outbound as well as inbound. Its only real draw back is advanced configuration of the Vista firewall is for...well...advanced users.

Joel,

Vista Ultimate and Business come with Windows Firewall with Advanced Security (%SystemRoot%\system32\WF.msc) Also found under Administrative Tools in Control Panel, You will find its configuration beats some of the most advanced firewall`s out there

Anything that does not match a rule will be blocked, I find Windows Firewall better than nearly all other firewalls because it firewalls ipv6 and many other protocols other firewalls neglect

Just to show outbound protection:

Here are just some properties available, dont let it fool you..There are many options found across the entire Snapin for configuring everything you can dream of...This is just a screenshot of the rule properties however there are many other config options found there and other places

Steven

 

[joel406]

Hey dmex, hows it going?

What can I say that was a perfect post, 110% correct. And made my point at the same time. If you show those screens to a Vietnam vet who can barely understand outlook express, imagine the look on his face when he sees that.

The Vista firewall is probably "the best" firewall to use, if you can stay awake long enough to go through everthing involved. indeed it does work well right out of the box.

 

[IvanI]

I'm using Comodo Firewall for my Vista Business x64.
Works like a charm.

 

[dsiban]

I used the free version Comodo firewall for about 6 months, but was unhappy with it's outbound firewall control. It did not allow for application specific blocking of Internet access. Once again, I must say I am behind a hardware firewall so I am not as concerned about incoming events as I am about outbound application control. VistaFirewallControl (VFC) uses the Vista Firewall components to more easily control outbound connections by applications. I'm running x64 Home Premium so I don't have access to the controls mentioned in an earlier post for Business or Ultimate, but VFC does a good job of allowing me to block applications that don't need to phone home.

Two advantages of using VFC: first it has reduced my average boot time by about 4 seconds over Comodo. Down from 33 to 29 seconds. Not a big difference but I love that x64 can boot that fast! The second is more subjective but pages seems to load faster without Comodo.

If you're behind a hardware firewall already give it a try. You don't need the bulk of Comodo or other software firewalls.